Derby Talk

Derby Talk is a forum for Pinewood Derby, Awana Grand Prix, Kub Kar Rally, Shape N Race Derby, Space Derby, Raingutter Regatta and other similar races where a child and an adult work together to create a race vehicle and a lot of fun and memories

Not to criticize anyone for how they enter their message posts, but here are some tips that can really help make posts easier for others to read:

+ DO NOT USE ALL UPPER CASE. Some would call this "shouting". It is not as easy to read as regular "sentence case".

+ do not use all lower case. Again, sentence case is easier to read.

+ Use paragraphs to consolidate your train of thought. One really long paragraph is hard to digest. Same with not using paragraphs at all (just individual sentences with blank lines in between). When you are moving onto a different thought, make a new paragraph. Group the sentences into paragraphs is actually easier for people to digest what you are trying to get across and it is easier for them to see when you are on to the next thought.

+ Photos or drawings can help illustrate a point and can often better convey the point better than just describing it.

This is great advice! Although occasionally guilty of all of these things (and a few more), may I offer a few other suggestions along similar lines?

+ Focus queries to a targeted subject, avoiding laundry lists of questions within a single topic or post that span all kinds of issues. Post different issues as separate topics.

+ Give each topic a title that clearly identifies its intended subject matter. Valuable discussions and questions can be overlooked if masked by a vague or unrelated topic title.

+ Try to keep responses relevant to the declared topical subject. Worthwhile yet off-topic side discussions can be very difficult to discover if placed in an unrelated topic, and irrelevant content can make topics lengthier and harder to navigate.

+ Consider bumping a related, existing topic by adding a query or information to its end before starting a new topic that may be redundant.

+ To promote continuity, include a direct link when referring to "the other topic", "last week's post about...", or whatever. (To discover the URL of a referenced post, click the icon by its title.)